A Conservative and conservative Republican case against State Senator Martin Golden

It’s not much of a secret that State Senator Martin Golden has been a pebble in my moccasin for quite some time; and I’ve been trying to shake out that Golden nugget and toss it to the road side for a few years now. Almost for that whole time, it’s been obvious to me that the formal organizations of the Brooklyn Conservative and Republican Parties exist largely to advance the interests of a very small interacting syndicate of people directly associated with State Senator Martin Golden. That syndicate of self-serving Golden sycophants constitute a virulent cancerous mass, which dominates and saps all other political vitality from that part of the body politic occupied by those Brooklynites, who see themselves as Conservatives and Republicans, and more broadly conservative-minded voters of all descriptions and affiliations in Kings County. 

Interestingly, most of the Brooklyn voters I’m talking about are completely deracinated as to what’s behind their almost complete non-representation as Conservatives or Republicans, or social or fiscal conservatives of any stripe or hue. All other political activity in Brooklyn for Conservatives and Republicans, and some of their not so formally declared allies in principle must take a back seat to the election and re-election of only one New York State Senator  —  Martin Golden of Bay Ridge. Since almost all of the principals behind that pro-Golden conspiracy are also from Bay Ridge, the little insiders’ group has often been called “the Bay Ridge Cabal”.

Think about that for a few moments, one state senator in a single state senate district  —  being serviced by a small clique who run two whole political parties in the largest county in the state, in a county that is bigger than all but a few of the nation’s largest cities  —  a bunch of insiders working for  just one state senator in one state senate district. With the exception of a single other state senator ( who won in a special election and no longer enjoys the support of either the Conservative Party or the full support of the Republican Party), the only Conservative-Republican elected official representing a district wholly or even principally within the boundaries of Brooklyn is State Senator Golden ( Congressmen Grimm and Turner, and Assemblywoman Malliotakis are elected from districts whose boundaries extend to areas that are mostly outside of Brooklyn ). Interestingly, those other nearby counties have multiple elected Conservatives and Republicans   —   unlike Brooklyn,  with just one Conservative-Republican state senator in one state senate district !

The cynics say that the Brooklyn Conservative and Republican parties need State Senator Martin Golden more than he needs the Conservative and Republican parties. The myth goes like this  — the district was cut specifically for “Marty” Golden, and “Marty” Golden is the only person who can win in it. More important, it was all done to maintain a “Republican majority” in the New York State Senate; and without “Marty” Golden’s election and re-election year after year, that “Republican majority” in the New York State Senate might be lost. Some myths are based upon certain realities, and those realities might well be part of the Golden myth. However, unless you are a cynic, any arguments or myths about some type of Golden entitlement to “his” senate seat or the existence of a Golden legacy district to keep a “Republican majority” in the New York State Senate are not reasons for any enrolled  members of the Brooklyn Conservative or Republican Parties, or any conservative-minded voters of whatever description or affiliation to vote for State Senator Golden.

The only relevant consideration is whether Martin Golden has been a good Conservative-Republican State Senator. There is no need to go through each and every vote that Martin Golden has cast as a State Senator. Over his state senate career, Golden has participated mostly as a majority member of a house of the New York Legislature that was needed for and did increase a monumental state debt, did leave the New York State pension system underfunded, did increase taxes, did drive business and population from large swaths of the state, and didn’t actively attempt to restrain the growth of government and didn't act pro-actively to stop the vote allowing the New York State Senate's  passage of a largely unpopular "Gay Marriage Bill."

Just look at what “Marty” Golden runs on and who supports him. 

Piece after piece of glossy “Marty” Golden mail stuffs our mail boxes or scrapes through our mail slots or winds up on a mounting pile of junk mail. There were multiple reports that some of it was even taxpayer funded. Other than some tiny, very small-print acknowledgment required by the Election Law none of it readily identifies State Senator Golden as either a Conservative Party-endorsed or a Republican Candidate. All of that “Marty” Golden mail contains point after point about bringing home this, that or the other piece of pork into the district  —   just like any run of the mill tax and spend liberal Democrat would do it  —  or say that they did. 

Mayor Bloomberg has endorsed President Barack Obama and State Senator Martin Golden; think about that. Conservative ?  Republican ?  In between introducing Christine Quinn at Golden’s Bay Ridge Manor and featuring Barack Obama on its home page  “The New Era Democrats” had time to endorse State Senator Martin Golden. Conservative ? Republican ?
  
State Senator Golden’s campaign homepage is chock-full of labor union endorsements, mostly public sector unions  —   just click “Endorsements” on Golden's Campaign home page.   Hint  —  all good Conservatives and  Republicans should know that most unions are not champions for anybody’s version of good government. This applies with particularity to their own internal union management, and  more generally in the corrupting effects that all unions exercise upon operations of the federal, state or local government, or the agencies, authorities and bureaus associated with those levels of government. >>>  For the most part old-fashioned  politicians like Martin Golden “earn” their rafts of union endorsements with a lot of quid pro quo. Conservative ?  Republican ?

Even the very progressive Gatemouth at Room Eight says that Golden is a throwback to liberal Eisenhower-style Republicans ( for any of this to make sense, I certainly disagree about any of what Gatemouth sees as Bob Taft-style conservatism in Golden )   —   more accurately, I think Golden, himself,  would have been more comfortable as a pre- Bob Wagner machine-style Democrat or as a liberal Rockefeller-style Republican, exactly the kinds of politicos that the Conservative Party of Mike Long’s youth was created to boot out as office holders, which brand of conservatism has infused most contemporary Republicans.